Today, users may often use multiple computing devices, such as mobile computing devices and desktop computing devices. In addition, such users may utilize multiple instances of an application on these computing devices. For example, instances of an e-mail application may be loaded onto a laptop computer, a smartphone and a desktop computer. In this way, the user may have access to the same application and/or application data on multiple devices. For instance, the user may check an e-mail account on the user's desktop computer at home and then later check the e-mail account on the user's smartphone while running errands.
As a result of having multiple instances of an application on multiple devices, the application state, such as application settings, for each of the instances of the application needs to be synchronized in order for the user to be provided with a seamless and consistent experience. That is, the application state, such as application settings, for each of the instances of the application needs to be synchronized in order for each application to perform consistently regardless of which device the user is using. For example, if the user configures a new e-mail account within an e-mail application on a laptop computer, then the new e-mail account should be reflected within the e-mail application on the user's desktop computer. As a result, the application state for each of the instances of the application needs to be synchronized.
Currently, such instances of an application become synchronized by creating an interface with a remote service (e.g., web services, such as JAX-RS services) and have those instances periodically synchronize in order to maintain consistency. Unfortunately, such a synchronization process occurs at unpredictable times. Furthermore, such a synchronization process may have unpredictable results depending on which application instance is synchronized first.